Better Late Than Never
by True Love Lives Forever
Summary: It only takes one moment to realize that your world is tumbling down, so you crumple to the ground and wish you never had those powerful feelings to begin with. But it doesn’t work that way... and she's right behind you - Dasey! Rating T for safety


Disclaimer: Why don't you take a random guess on this one? Yep, you were right. It's not mine.

Summary: It only takes one moment to realize your world is tumbling down, so you crumple to the ground and wish you never had those powerful feelings to begin with. But it doesn't work that way - Dasey!

Author's Notes: This is just something that popped into my mind that I decided to get rid off through writing it out. I hope you'll enjoy this. Please, read and review!

* * *

Better Late Than Never

By: True Love Lives Forever

"Der-_ek_! What the hell? You're gonna get us killed!" Casey's terrified, yet infuriated, voice resounded throughout The Prince as Derek barely managed to swerve onto the ramp heading off of the freeway and into the resting area. Realizing that they had narrowly escaped a possibly fatal car crash, Casey finally started taking deep breaths, wishing that she had a paper bag with her, but knowing she's going to have to calm down the old fashioned way.

Derek, on the other hand, was seething, unable to control himself and at the same time knowing their lives depended on him at the moment since he was the driver after all.

Barely managing to park the car near the sidewalk by what looked like a nice field with lots of grass past a stretch of trees, not really knowing if it was the "No Parking" zone or not, but not caring all the same, he took the key out of the ignition and got out of the car with the slamming of the door.

Meanwhile, Casey sat motionless in the car, not having a clue as to what got him so upset in the first place. Sure they love to argue and get under each other's skin – but not like this. This was the end of their senior year and just like usually, they kept arguing in the car about what radio station to listen to, and then eventually moving onto their regular offenses of "You're a jerk" and "You're a prude". But what else was new? Granted, she had just revealed a little bit of information to him in her little rant that she hasn't even told her mom, Lizzie, or Emily. But that shouldn't have had any effect, certainly not on him, and not like this.

Somehow, Derek always managed to drive her up the wall with the least amount of effort. When he managed pissing her off with the "prude" comments and how nobody can possibly like her for her, it was almost as if she had just snapped and spilled all about her conversation with her boyfriend of two month, Jeremy, during their two-months-anniversary dinner last weekend. The next thing she knew, Derek completely blew up which absolutely didn't make any sense. Unless…

No! That was just absurd.

Coming to the conclusion that she had better settle whatever was going on with Derek and get home before they were both grounded until graduation, Casey walked out of the car and looked for her step-brother. It didn't take long to see him leaning against a nearby tree with all of his body, just mere yards away from her. The back of his head was propped against the oldest oak tree of them all, judging by the size of its trunk, and his hands engulfed his face, making his present state of mind rather unreadable.

Thinking it's better to face the music sooner than later, Casey moved forward…

Derek didn't know what he was going to do. He was losing it. That was painfully obvious. But this time it was different because not only was he losing it, but he was doing it in front of Casey.

He heard footsteps a close distance from him, automatically knowing who it was. Somehow in the middle of all this craziness, Derek managed to notice that this rest stop was rather isolated, them being the very few people here, which wasn't that surprising considering it was past midnight on a Friday night. That's what happens when you go partying – you get stuck in the middle of nowhere, at least for today.

"Derek?" That was all she said, quietly and apprehensively, almost afraid he was going to blow up on her, which he guessed she probably thought anyway. It wasn't everyday he exploded like that. After all, he didn't do emotions – or at least that's what he kept telling everyone around him, Casey being no exception.

Slowly, he lowered his hands and after a few more moments, opened his weary eyes, only to meet Casey's from a mere foot away. She looked concerned, and as she realized he was responding to her call, relief seemed to wash over her.

Derek just stood there, staring at her. She was so beautiful. If only she knew… If only he could tell her…

But he knew he couldn't. There were too many obstacles, Jeremy being only one of many. His family being another one. Besides, what would Casey think if she found out the truth? He couldn't bear to consider all of her possible reactions.

So he just kept standing there, leaning against the tree, unable to tear his gaze away from hers. He was hypnotized by her charming, warm eyes.

He didn't know how much time had passed as they stood there, not doing anything.

And he certainly didn't know what on earth had possessed him. Whether it was her close proximity or a hopeless attempt to show what he's been feeling all along towards her despite his rationalizations and learned ideas of right and wrong. Or maybe it was the frustration and fear of never knowing the "what ifs" that could await his future, but the next thing he knew was that he slowly started leaning in towards her, unable to stop himself as time seemed to have slowed down to an incredibly slow pace. After what seemed like hours, his lips finally touched hers, proving to be their first kiss.

He heard all too many times how in the movies, when the contempory Romeo and Juliet kiss, all thoughts fly out the window and they both finally realize what they've been waiting for. For Derek it was different. He knew what he's been waiting for and he hoped against hope that Casey would realize it now, too.

But as he started to lean back from the softest, yet most meaningful kiss of his life, even slower than before, all of his hopes were crushed with a deafening sound resounding in his ears, yet fully knowing there was no sound coming from anywhere around them.

Casey was staring back at him blankly. Well blankly wasn't exactly the right word for it since her eyes were wide open, too widely for his taste, and her expression held nothing but obvious shock, and what he deciphered as disgust.

At that moment, he felt his surroundings come full speed again, the reality of it hitting him with all its might.

If only he had refrained from kissing her. If only he never let her know how he truly felt about her. And better yet, if only he didn't have those feelings for her in the first place because if that was the case, he wouldn't be feeling his insides churning and he wouldn't be face to face with the Casey that he was hopelessly in love with who not only would never return those feelings, but would be disgusted with him for the rest of her life, probably wishing to never ever see him again in a million years. Not that he would want to be seen by her at this very moment, knowing how much she despised him.

So he did the only thing he could think of. He tried to gather the little remnants of his strength, and with the need to be anywhere else but here helping him, he got up from where he was, stumbling somewhat along the way, turned around, and ran like he never did in his life. The trees kept flying past him as if they were consumed by eye of a tornado, along with him in the middle of it.

But who was he kidding? He was in no condition to sprint for long. His emotions were getting the best of him, impairing on his physical strength at the moment. Before he knew it, his emotional doom got the best of him as he reached yet another tree and stumbled to the ground next to it with the numerous trees still surrounding him. And as he tried to get his breathing to normal, he just realized that his face was covered with tears – the tears that he wasn't able to keep at bay for any longer. The tears that he hasn't shed for years on end.

Then to make things even worse, he heard footsteps. He didn't have to turn around to know who they belonged to. He was pretty pathetic that way. After all, he knew everything about her and he could pick her out of a crowd of millions of people if he wanted. But he didn't want to. Not right now, that is, because it would mean that if he was right, he would have to face her in mere seconds and he couldn't do that.

He desperately wanted to get up from his kneeling position on the grass only to find it futile. As much as he wanted to run from her as far as his legs would take him, that was exactly the problem at hand – his body wasn't willing to cooperate with him as his feet wouldn't take him anywhere as they were firmly planted on the ground. And to top that off, his tears wouldn't stop either. Out of all the times, his body decided now to listen to its own accord instead of his, making everything even more unbearable.

As if things weren't bad enough, he heard a voice behind his back, calling out to him in a rather raspy, breathless tone, just like his would have sounded at the moment, assuming he could find his voice at all. In any case, his fears had just been confirmed. Casey was right behind him, finally caught up to him, and he had nowhere to go to escape her wrath.

He would never be able to look her in the eyes ever again either, because he very well knew that if he ever did, he would never be able to put the pieces of his heart back together again. He doubted he would be able to do it in years to come with how things were now, let alone if he was forced to see the look in her eyes – a piercing look he knew would kill every single living cell of his body.

But he didn't have a choice.

Casey came up to him, kneeled, and lifted up his chin, forcing him to look at her before he could do anything else.

But what he expected to find in her eyes wasn't there. Instead there was something else.

Finally, Casey broke the silence, "Don't tell me you keep on running from me all night long. It's been a long day already."

Derek opened his mouth to say something. What exactly would come out of his mouth was beyond him. But it didn't matter anyway since no sound came out. After a few more futile attempts, he gave up and closed his eyes, still too nervous and terrified.

Casey however, didn't seem to have the problem of being indecisive at the moment as she leaned in and softly connected her lips to his, causing Derek to jump slightly out of surprise, yet momentarily becoming a more that willing participant in the kiss.

When they broke apart, Derek tried once again to speak and this time succeeded, though his voice held pain and fear of the answers. "What about Jeremy? He proposed to you last weekend and now you're engaged."

Casey couldn't keep a small chuckle from escaping her lips.

"He proposed, yes. But I never said I agreed to marry him just yet… Wait. Is that what this has been all about?" So the realization has finally hit her and she sure was right.

While Derek let his mind wrap around the new information, the one that cause this whole ordeal to begin with, questions kept pouring into his brain. _What did all of this mean? Does she love him too? Does she at least like him now? _He would settle for that at least and hope that her feelings for her would deepen with time.

But his thoughts were cut short by another, deeper and more lingering kiss that put most of his worries to sleep. After a few moments, Casey continued her little speech once again.

"He kind of freaked me out by proposing on our two-month-anniversary. He's a great guy and all, but there might be someone else in my heart," she said with a reassuring smile. After a beat, she continued with confusion apparent on her features, "Why didn't you ever tell me before?" Casey was looking expectantly at Derek, obviously hinting about their newest revelation.

Not knowing what else to say, he retorted, "Why didn't you?"

"Ok. Point taken. It sure has taken us a while to confront our feelings for each other, huh?"

With a genuine smile that started dancing around Derek's lips for the first time in a while, Derek nodded, "It sure has. But it's better late than never." And with that, he went in for another kiss, this time more confidently than ever before.

They might not have exchanged those powerful words of "I love you", but he now knew that there was time. He could wait for that to happen on another day. Besides, all that mattered now was that she was next to him, in his arms, and their passion told them everything they needed to know for the time being.

* * *

PLEASE, REVIEW! 


End file.
